


Out of Thin Air

by ghostchilismoothie



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21650212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostchilismoothie/pseuds/ghostchilismoothie
Summary: At some point, all those Rose Quartzes in the Zoo needed to be bubbled. This is a story of that time.
Kudos: 12





	Out of Thin Air

_ This may be the hardest part, _ Zircon thought to herself. The entire palace was in mourning. The news had come six cycles ago, that the Radiant Pink Diamond had been shattered. 

The order had come four cycles ago: round up all the Rose Quartzes, the elite soldiers made especially for Her. Interview them all, confirm their every location between emerging and now, see if there were any other insurgents and then destroy their forms and bubble them. Place them in storage for further instructions from higher up. Shatter any that were aligned with the rebels. 

Data slab held tightly to her chest, she hurried down the long hallway lined on one side with cells. They were in the bowels of the palace. Some disused section that Zircon had never been in, nobody had been in for a long time. There hadn't been need for it. The hum of the containment field put Zircon on edge.

Some of them were pacing the small cells, some muttering to themselves. Others had just given in, collapsed against the wall, their faces hidden behind varying shades of pink curls. More than a few were crying. They weren’t told why there were here. But they knew. Stony faced Topaz fusion pairs were on either end of the corridor, while a fifth and sixth retrieved the Quartzes for their interviews. 

Zircon was not doing the interviews, thank the Diamonds, but she was the last one they would see. She was in charge of cataloguing. Broken spirited and shackled Rose Quartzes were walked into the temporary office flanked by two halves of a Topaz. She read them one part of the script that some Gem had written up. 

_ One of your kind has committed treason, and we’re only doing this for your own good. If there was an error in the entire Rose Quartz line, It cannot remain in the Authority. You understand, right? _

They never understood. Some pleaded, some tried to attack, but others just mumbled and submitted. She confirmed each ones designation, and checked it off on a master list of every Rose Quartz formulation ever injected. Zircon let the Topaz wield the destabilizer, but she bubbled each one. 

The other parts of the script were never used. 

_ You have committed treason against your Homeworld. You were found to have been allied with the traitor Crystal Gems, and their leader, is a Rose Quartz like yourself. Your sentence is shattering.  _

_ You have committed treason against your Homeworld. You have instigated a rebellion and you have done the worst imaginable. You have shattered a Diamond. You will be seen by the Diamonds and you will be shattered. _

Ages passed, but finally she completed the exit interview for the last Rose Quartz on homeworld. She let herself collapse against the info panel briefly, then righted herself, nodded to the Topaz to leave and began to review. Starting with Rose Quartz Facet-1 Cut-1XA to Facet-8 Cut-8XT she scrolled through the list.

Location:

Bubbled in Storage Hall 436

Bubbled in Storage Hall 436

Bubbled in Storage Hall 436

Bubbled in Storage Hall 437

Bubbled...

Bubbled...

Bubbled...

Bubbled...

Bubbled.

The words blurred together as she began frantically scrolling down the sheet. She kept looking and looking for something out of place. But there wasn't anything.

...Every single Rose Quartz was accounted for. 

Zircon pulled up a viewscreen and dialed the throne room direct number. And stopped.

If every Rose Quartz was accounted for, then who was the one who shattered Pink Diamond? 


End file.
